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:HlP SECRE'f" Foreword This is the third volume of the Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation and it focuses on the problems of establishing a policy for the United States Government as Fidel Castro and his cohorts came to power in Cuba.* . The policy decided on by the US Government in March 1960 called for the displace- ment of Fidel Castro, and it was by no means a uni- lateral decision promoted by the Central Intelligence Agency -- althou~h it is demonstrable that the Agency was far more perceptive than the policy making bodies in recognizing the threat to the Western Hemisphere posed by Castro's communist affiliation. Because the policy makers feared censure by the United Nations and/or the Organization of American States, the myth of ··pla.usible deniability" was the caveat that deter- mined the CIA would be the principal implementing arm for the anti-Castro effort. From inception to termination, * The preceding volumes were: I - Air Operations II Participation in the Conduct of Foreign Policy. - iii -